The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

This is the great Festival of the Incarnation, commemorating the announcement by the Archangel Gabriel to our Lady that the Divine Son of God, the Word, would take human nature upon Him in her virginal womb. Its date is determined by that of Christmas Day, and as the day which marked the beginning of the Christian dispensation it was for many centuries regarded as the first day of the civil year.

On this day the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, uniting for evermore our human nature to the Divine nature. The mystery of the Incarnation brings vividly before us the boundless condescension and humility of God the Son in stooping to our condition in order to be our Savior. Equally it proclaims the glory and greatness of Mary, who was chosen to give to the Divine Word human flesh and human birth, and so to co-operate with God in the restoration of mankind. Hence her most glorious title of "Mother of God," which explains all her glories, her sanctity, and her honor.

Today is also OPENING DAY 2008 for the DETROIT TIGERS!

Who's your Tiger? My Tigers this year are Jeremy Bonderman (SP) and Curtis Granderson (CF), with Carlos Guillen (1B) as my fill-in while Curtis is on the DL. Lisa's Tigers this year are Nate Robertson (SP) and Placido Polanco (2B).

Today my pick for a great performance is Justin Verlander (SP) and Lisa's is Brandon Inge (CF). Go get 'em!

[Update] Well, they lost 5-4 in 11 innings. As for our Tigers, Verlander was great through 5 but then gave up 2 runs each in the 6th and 7th. Guillen and Inge played well, the former hitting a game-tying HR in the 8th and the latter throwing out the would-be go-ahead run at home plate in the 11th. Polanco was 0 for 6.

Concerning the Author of the Fourth Gospel

I offer the following in response to a question concerning the author of the Fourth Gospel passed on to me by Lisa.

It is important to know first that the Pontifical Biblical Commission (PBC) although no longer invested with magisterial authority, was so invested throughout the earlier part of the twentieth century:

Pope Pius X, Motu Proprio Praestantia Scripturae, 18 Nov. 1907:

We now declare and expressly enjoin that all without exception are bound by an obligation of conscience to submit to the decisions of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, whether already issued or to be issued hereafter, exactly as to the decrees of the Sacred Congregations which are on matters of doctrine and approved by the Pope; nor can anyone who by word or writing attacks the said decrees avoid the note both of disobedience and of rashness or be therefore without grave fault.

Bearing in mind then that the PBC speaks here with the voice of the authentic magisterium of the Church, here are the answers of the PBC to two questions submitted to it, dated 29 May 1907:

I: Does the constant, universal, and solemn tradition of the Church dating back to the second century and witnessed to principally: (a) by the holy Fathers, by ecclesiastical writers, and even by heretics, whose testimonies and allusions must have been derived from the disciples or first successors of the Apostles and so be linked with the very origin of the book; (b) by the name of the author of the fourth Gospel having been at all times and places in the canon and lists of the sacred books; (c) by the most ancient manuscripts of those books and the various versions; (d) by public liturgical use in the whole world from the very beginnings of the Church; prove that John the Apostle and no other is to be acknowledged as the author of the fourth Gospel, and that by an historical argument so firmly established (without reference to theological considerations) that the reasons adduced by critics to the contrary in no way weaken this tradition? Answer: In the affirmative.

II: Should, further, internal reasons derived from the text of the fourth Gospel considered by itself, from the witness of the writer and the manifest relationship of the Gospel itself to the first Epistle of John the Apostle, be judged to confirm the tradition that unhesitatingly attributes the fourth Gospel to the same Apostle? And can the difficulties which arise from a comparison of the same Gospel with the other three, in view of the differences of time, aim, and hearers, for whom or against whom the author wrote, be given reasonable solutions, as has been done by the holy Fathers and Catholic exegetes in various works? Answer: In the affirmative to both parts.

Credit is due to Catholic Apologetics International for making the above and many more of the Replies of the Biblical Commission easily available.

Low Sunday

This Sunday is called from the first words of the Introit, the Sunday of Quasimodo, or Sunday in Albis (deponendis) because the neophytes on that day put aside their white garments. In English the term Low Sunday is in contrast with Easter or High Sunday. Another Latin name Pascha clausum is preserved in the French Pâques closes and in the Dutch or Flemish Beloken Pasen: close of Easter, this Sunday ending the Octave. - Let us proclaim our faith in the risen Lord, and in His divine Presence in the Holy Eucharist.

Quasimodo Sunday is, of course, not named after the famous "Hunchback of Notre Dame" (a novel by Victor Hugo); in fact, quite the opposite.

Days of the Church year often take their respective names from the opening words of that day's Introit. For example, the Introit of the third Sunday of Advent opens Gaudete in Domino semper. Similarly, the Introit of the fourth Sunday of Lent begins with the words Laetare Jerusalem. Today the Introit opens Quasi modo geniti infantes, alleluia: rationabile, sine dolo lac concupiscite, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. [As newborn babes, alleluia, desire the rational milk without guile, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.]

In Victor Hugo's story, it was on this day, Quasi modo Sunday, that a deformed child was left in the Cathedrale Notre-Dame:

Sixteen years previous to the epoch when this story takes place, one fine morning, on Quasimodo Sunday, a living creature had been deposited, after Mass, in the church of Notre- Dame, on the wooden bed securely fixed in the vestibule on the left, opposite that great image of Saint Christopher, which the figure of Messire Antoine des Essarts, chevalier, carved in stone, had been gazing at on his knees since 1413, when they took it into their heads to overthrow the saint and the faithful follower. Upon this bed of wood it was customary to expose foundlings for public charity. Whoever cared to take them did so. In front of the wooden bed was a copper basin for alms. The sort of living being which lay upon that plank on the morning of Quasimodo, in the year of the Lord, 1467, appeared to excite to a high degree, the curiosity of the numerous group which had congregated about the wooden bed.

Easter Saturday

This morning around 5:45 we said good-bye (sniffle-sniffle) to Will and Anna at the Vienna airport. They are flying home to Pensacola via Prague and Atlanta. St. Christopher, please pray for them! The nine days they spent with us went so fast!

Meanwhile back in Gaming our internet service is shaky (we're told that everybody's cell phones are out too), but we've managed to put some more pictures into our March 2008 photo album.

Easter Friday

Will and Anna's last day with us in Gaming! We took a walk in the afternoon to Maria's favorite destination: the pond (complete with ducks) across the street from which are lots of cows! As you can see Tuesday's blizzard has melted almost completely away.

Easter Thursday

Well today waxed warm and sunny - the snow began to melt away rather rapidly and, after my morning classes, we set out for a long walk in search of a certain waterfall. Eventually, however, the path became too snow-covered for the stroller to go on, so we stopped for a bit of lunch on a little bridge before heading back to Gaming.

Easter Wednesday

The past few days here have been quite snowy - maybe four or five inches when all was said and done this afternoon. This picture of a Byzantine procession is from Monday before the snow really started to pile up.

The Feast of the Annunciation has been moved in the Roman Rite from March 25 (yesterday) to March 31, because the 25th fell within the Easter Octave. The Byzantines though don't move the Feast for anything! Yesterday, therefore, was quite a celebration here. The Byzantine chapel is dedicated to the Annunciation, and was dedicated on this Feast just last year. We found out in the homily by the way that the chapel holds relics of Ss. Nicholas, John Chrysostom, Gregory the Great, and Barbara. Yesterday was also the 25th anniversary of one of our professor's consecration as a virgin. She was consecrated by then-Cardinal Ratzinger! After the Divine Liturgy we were all treated to quite an array of food, drink, and song in the Kartause.

Maria is enjoying Easter thoroughly! Here she is making a buck-toothed bunny face while eating her chocolate Easter bunny. And for dinner this evening, with Will and Anna back from Salzburg, Lisa made "drunken chicken." It looks perhaps a bit distasteful, but tasted quite good. The evaporating beer makes the chicken quite moist!

Easter Tuesday

Orientation in liturgy: ad orientem or versus populum?

I just read an interesting exchange between Cardinal Ratzinger and a Dominican named Pierre-Marie Gy which touched on the subject of orientation in the liturgy. Gy's critique of Ratzinger's book The Spirit of the Liturgy, and Ratzinger's response to his criticisms were recently published in English in Antiphon, the journal of the Society for Catholic Liturgy. (Also recently published in Antiphon 11.2 [2007] was a small piece entitled "Love and Self-Gift: Sacrifice in St Augustine's City of God," by John Joy.)

It is often interesting in polarizing debates to see in what terms the respective positions are cast. For example, the debate over abortion is usually cast in terms of "pro-choice" vs. "pro-life." The term "pro-choice" is [deliberately?] deceptive both in that it (1) implies that those who are pro-life are also anti-choice, and in that it (2) disguises the fact that those who are pro-choice are actually pro-death.

Pro-lifers have tried for years to fight this deceptive terminology by recasting the debate more accurately and unambiguously in terms of "pro-life" vs. "pro-death," or "pro-abortion."

Similarly, the debate over on which side of the altar the priest should stand when offering the Mass is usually framed in terms of "Mass facing the people" vs. "Mass with the priest's back to the people." The Latin terms used are only slightly less weighted: Mass is offered either versus populum [turned toward the people] or ad orientem [toward the East].

Nevertheless, the term "versus populum" is [deliberately?] deceptive both in that it (1) emphasizes the fact that the priest's back is to the people when he offers Mass ad orientem, implying that this is somehow disrespectful to the people, and in that it (2) disguises the fact that Mass celebrated versus populum is actually celebrated with the priest's back to God [whether literally in the tabernacle, liturgically on the crucifix, or symbolically in the East].

This debate should also be recast in more accurate terms: Mass is offered either versus populum [turned toward the people] or versus Deum [turned toward God]; either with the priest's back to the people, or with his back to God. When the deceptiveness of language is thus exposed one has only to remember Jeremiah 32:33-34:

"They have turned to me their back and not their face; and though I have taught them persistently they have not listened to receive instruction. They set up their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it."

Easter Monday

This Octave is entirely consecrated to the neophytes. The week was for them a continual feast, a spiritual feast; and they kept their white baptismal garments, which were not laid aside until the following Sunday (in albis deponendis). The Masses of this Octave allude, like that of Pentecost, sometimes to the Resurrection, sometimes to Baptism. Let us follow the example of the neophytes; let us all be one in mind and heart, in proclaiming together our faith in the risen Christ Jesus our Lord.

Here we all are last night at dinner. Some of the students (all men, as the women cooked a meal on Holy Thursday) organized and cooked a really remarkable Easter feast for us all last night. Lentil and French onion soups, pizza, pasta, salad, deliciously tender and flavorful lamb, garlic potatoes, an international array of desserts, and plenty of beer and wine all throughout.

After dinner, Anna and I took Maria home to bed (it was about 9:30 when the meal was finally finished). The students continued the festivities by singing Easter hymns. As you can see above, Will was quite willing to join the other singers!

I've also added a new photo album to the sidebar, or you can just follow this link: March 2008.

Easter Sunday

CHRISTUS

RESURREXIT

SICUT

DIXIT!

ALLELUIA!

Holy Saturday

Freshly added to my Reading List is a book kindly carried across the Atlantic for us by Will and Anna. 1917: Red Banners White Mantle by Warren Carroll is:

"A captivating account that narrates, month by month, the events of 1917. This is popular Catholic history at its finest. The drama of the Great War and the Russian Revolution are juxtaposed with the spiritual dimension of the Age: the diabolism of Rasputin, the Apparition of the Virgin at Fatima, the malignancy of Lenin, the saintly courage of (the now blessed) Charles of Austria. Few standard histories have ever given such a high degree of consideration to the supernatural and the Christian interpretation of history as 1917 does." (From the publisher's website - Christendom Press.)

Good Friday

Yesterday morning, by the way, Will and Anna (and baby) arrived safely here via Atlanta and Vienna. Maria is loving having them here (as are Lisa and I). She can say, Aunt Anna, but so far has not said, Uncle Will. Although we're suspicious that she can say it, but is not doing so deliberately just to torment him.